Elisha Cuthbert reveals she ‘felt pressured’ to pose up for men’s mags

Elisha Cuthbert has admitted she felt ‘pressured’ to pose for sexy shoots in men’s magazines early in her career.

Speaking on the Broad Ideas with Rachel Bilson podcast on Monday, The Girl Next Door star, 39, said she felt she had ‘no option’ but to pose up for the racy spreads to promote her films.

The actress added that she’s a little unsure about how the images, which are still available to be seen on the internet, will affect her children.

‘That’s what the [film] studio wanted you to do…,’ Elisha began.

‘I mean, Halle Berry was doing it, for God’s sake… Jennifer Aniston was doing it. We were probably too young to be subjected to that, and feeling pressured to do that.’

The mother-of-two – who shares Zaphire, four, and Fable, six months, with husband Dion Phaneuf – said she’s worried about how the images will affect her children and noted how heavily ‘airbrushed’ they were.

‘This is what I have to explain to my kids. This weird, bizarre outfit and hair extensions,’ Elisha said.

‘I was in my early 20s. I didn’t look bad, but did I look [like] that? I don’t even know if the fantasy’s real.’

Throughout her career, Elisha posed for the likes of FHM and Maxim and ended up on a number of ‘hot girl’ lists at the time.

Shrugging off the attention, she said: ‘It’s not like I won an Olympic medal. It was just some list some random magazine decided to create.

‘When someone reads my bio, those things come up. They actually don’t mean anything in regards to me as a person or my career.’

The Canadian star is well known for her role in the 2004 teen comedy film The Girl Next Door, where a teen falls in love with his new neighbour, a former porn star.

She has also appeared on shows including The Ranch with Ashton Kutcher and 24 with Kiefer Sutherland.

She was previously dubbed TV’s most beautiful woman by Maxim readers but at the time said she was worried about how her Happy Endings co-stars Casey Wilson and Eliza Coupe would react to the news.

‘To think that one person could be the most beautiful when there’s Kaley Cuoco, Sofia Vergara, Zooey Deschanel? They’re all stunning,’ Elisha told Maxim at the time.

‘I’m not gonna fight anyone about it, though. I’ll accept it with grace. But being on a show with two other beautiful women, this is gonna make going to work very uncomfortable.’